1st Edition

Progress and Shortfalls in Europe’s Defence An Assessment

104 Pages
by Routledge

104 Pages
by Routledge

European NATO members face the dual challenge of Russia’s military threat and the United States’ expectations about significantly greater ‘burden sharing’, or even ‘burden shifting’, for Europe’s defence. Their commitment at The Hague Summit in June 2025 to invest 5% of GDP in defence expenditure annually by 2035 acknowledged the need to develop a more sovereign European defence capability and... Read more

INTRODUCTION Evaluating Europe’s Defence

CHAPTER ONE Fixing Europe’s Hardware Gaps

CAPABILITY VIGNETTE Russia’s Military Threat to Europe

CHAPTER TWO Closing the Software Gap

CAPABILITY VIGNETTE Improving Recruitment, Retention and Mass

CHAPTER THREE European Integrated Air and Missile Defence: Slow Progress

CAPABILITY VIGNETTE Military Mobility in Europe

CHAPTER FOUR Transforming European Defence Procurement and Industry

CAPABILITY VIGNETTE Filling the Gap: Non-NATO Suppliers to Europe

CHAPTER FIVE Defence Financing

CAPABILITY VIGNETTE Increased Focus on Supply Chains and Critical Raw Materials

CONCLUSION Towards a Road Map for European Defence  

Biography

The International Institute for Strategic Studies is an independent centre for research, information and debate on the problems of conflict, however caused, that have, or potentially have, an important military content. The staff of the Institute is international in composition and IISS work is international in its perspective and reach. The Institute is independent and stresses rigorous fact-based research with a forward-looking policy orientation that can improve wider public understanding of international security problems and influence the development of sounder public policy, and more effective business decisions in the international arena.